2024-01-10 06:00:00
Cockpit voice recorder data (CVR), one of the two black boxes of the Alaska Airlines flight, were inadvertently erased, due to a strategic weakness: its recording duration. An embarrassing situation for the investigators, the NTSB calling for improvements…
Investigators will never know exactly what Alaska Airlines pilots were saying last week in the chaotic and noisy first moments after a door plug came loose from a Boeing 737 MAX 9, leaving a hole in the side of its fuselage shortly after takeoff. Because the cockpit voice recorder, one of the virtually indestructible black boxes on board every airliner, has a critical weakness by American standards: a short memory span. After a cycle of two o’clockrecording restarts, erasing the previous data.
It’s a factor that has impacted 10 investigations over the past five years, including several probes into near-misses on U.S. airstrips in 2023, according to the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jennifer Homendy. She calls the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to require a registration window of 25 hours for the cockpit voice recorder of all aircraft, a duration which is already a standard requirement under the European regulations airlines for aircraft built after 2021.
Last year, the FAA proposed requiring 25 hours of recording time for cockpit voice recorders. But that would only apply to newly manufactured planes, Homendy noted, adding that she wants the FAA to change its proposal and require planes currently in flight to be retrofitted. “You can easily install another voice recorder in the cockpit and increase the duration from two hours to 25 hours”she declared Sunday evening.
There is a process to freeze the recording and prevent further overwriting. A mechanic or pilot can cut power to the recorder, preserving it as a time capsule that can then be uploaded to a specialized laboratory, such as the NTSB in Washington or the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) French. Alaska Airlines attempted to do so in this case, Homendy suggested during the news conference. After the plane landed in Portland, airline officials were busy setting up their emergency operations center. They eventually sent a mechanic to examine the voice recorder. “The CVR circuit breaker was not pulled. The maintenance team went to pick it up, but it was only after about two hours.”she explained. “It’s unfortunately a loss for us, a loss for the FAA and a loss for safety. This information is essential not only for our investigation, but also to improve aviation safety. »
Congress should take action under the FAA reauthorization bill to ensure passage of the proposed rule, Ms. Homendy said. The two agencies have clashed in the past over how the NTSB’s recommendations are implemented.
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